Cell Shock CS3222580

Most our readers may be not yet familiar with the Cell Shock brand name. It is the first time we are working with this memory in our lab. However, Cell Shock is a brand name that belongs to a pretty well-known German distributor MSC Vertriebs GmbH. The company uses this trade mark for their memory modules designed and manufactured in Germany on their own production lines with the use of proprietary production technologies. So, Cell Shock is new overclocker memory from Europe.

We received a DDR3 kit marked as CS3222580. This abbreviation stands for a pair of DDR3-1800 modules 1GB each that are designed to work with 8-7-6-21 timings at 1.7V-1.9V voltage.

The kit is shipped in a not very traditional package for overclocker memory solutions. The modules sit in a black carton box with a transparent window. Besides, the modules there is also a brief user’s guide and a sticker for the case front panel with Cell Shock logo.

The exterior design of these modules is also pretty unusual. The manufacturer uses massive black anodized aluminum heat-spreaders of very strict but original shape to transfer the heat away from the memory chips. Although 1GB DDR3 memory modules carry 8 1-gigabit chips on one side of the PCB, Cell Shock didn’t try to save by using heat-spreaders on only one side of the PCB. Each module is equipped with a pair of heat-spreaders pressed against the front of the chips and against the back of the PCB. The heat-spreaders retention is also quite unique: they are fastened with four screws holding two halves of the cooling system together. They used white thermal grease as thermal interface between the chips and the heat-spreader plates.

The heat-spreaders are decorated with six shallow horizontal grooves and an embossed Cell Shock logo on the front of the DIMMs. On the other side of the module there is a silver sticker with the info on the module part number and kit nominal specifications.

The default specs of these modules are pretty unusual: DDR3-1800 from Cell Shock boasts very rare combination of timings:

Cell Shock CS3222580

Memory kit capacity

2 modules 1GB each

Frequency

1800MHz

Timings

8-7-6-21

Voltage

1.7-1.9V

Chips

Micron D9GTR (BY-187E)

Cooling system

Massive aluminum heat-spreaders on both sides of the module

Note that DDR3-1800 modules from Cell Shock are designed to work with relatively low voltage settings. While most similar solutions from other memory makers work at 1.9-2.0V, Cell Shock memory can work at 1.7V, which is only 13% higher than what JEDEC specs for DDR3 chips claims – 1.5V.